R331m at the age of 33

Just one of many interesting deals over R5m by the directors of JSE companies.

Last October, at the tender age of 33, Philippa Johnson of Cape Town received R331m in cash for a tranche of shares in Atlas Properties.
This was just one of many eyebrow-raising deals over R5m by the directors of JSE companies in the past six months.

Atlas CEO Ian Raubenheimer explains that the young Johnson received that wad of cash on behalf of a family trust, which sold some 31% of Atlas to Acucap. Johnson was a non-executive director of Atlas at the time of the sale, so it was recorded in her name. Her father, Peter Irvine, one of the founders of Atlas, died in 2005.

The shares were part of his estate and the huge pile of money accrued to Johnson, her mother and three sisters.

JJM van Zyl, a cousin of the Irvine's, is listed as the seller of another R70m of Atlas shares, apparently to Growthpoint.

Another mega-deal last July was the R371m sale of Steinhoff shares by directors Bruno Steinhoff, Markus Jooste, Hendrik Ferreira and Johannes Neethling.

Read more at MoneyWeb.co.za